Lessons for the Islamic world

Pakistani demonstrators after London terror attacks. PHOTO: AFP

Reaction of the Muslim community after London bombing was predictable. There was at first the denial and the usual conspiracy theory. Later, as all four bombers were found to be Muslims, the apologists came up with the plea that these people do not represent Islam and the Muslim Ummah. The British Muslim community leaders were at pains to explain that the extremists do not represent the vast majority of Muslims in UK. It is true that the vast majority in any society is hard-working, law-abiding citizen, but even if 0.001 percent of the 1.6 million British Muslims have extremist leanings, the Brits have about 1,600 potential suicide bombers to worry about. The Muslim community leaders' repeated assertion in the media that they were unaware of the Islamic extremism in the UK proves that either they were unfit to be community leaders or they were concealing the truth. Muslim ghettos in the West are fertile ground for religious extremism. A Muslim youth in UK can't go to the pub, would not be seen in Leicester Square in the evening, nor afford a Wimbledon ticket. Cut off from the political, economic, and cultural mainstream of the nation, he or she has only one place to socialise -- the mosque. There, thanks to the mostly illiterate Mullahs hired from back home, the kids were constantly bombarded with obscurantist religious dogmas. Added to this was the large injection of Middle Eastern money that financed ornate mosques with towering minarets while the local school was in disrepair for lack of funds. Think of the fanaticism of the parents who sent their children from UK to study in madrassas in Pakistan! Now the parents are pleading innocence; indeed they are a party to the crime.

The religious extremism in Islam is not a new phenomenon. Islam has seen civil wars and unrest from its infancy that resulted in a weak and fragmented society unable to cope with change. Religious leaders, often in collusion with the not-so-religious despotic rulers, created dogmas that throttled the growth of free thinking and scientific research in the society. Many of the Muslim litterateurs, scientists, philosophers, doctors, whom we revere today, were in their times declared heretics, thrown in prison and died at the hands of assassins. (The word "assassin" is derived from Arabic word "hassasin" -- hashish addicted followers of 11th century cult leader Hassan Sabah responsible for the murder of many Muslim leaders and intellectuals of the time.

) The Islamic world missed the Renaissance and the subsequent scientific-industrial revolution that occurred in Europe in during the 14-17th centuries. When the colonial invasion came, the Islamic world was a few centuries behind Europe in learning and was easily conquered. By the 18th century, the Islamic world had sunk into a state of hopelessness that gave birth to an exclusive reformist movement in Arabia popularly known as the "Wahabi" movement.

Islamic extremism that we see today is fuelled mainly by the "Wahabi" doctrine that rejects modernity and accepts literal interpretation of the religious scriptures. They believe that it is an essential duty of the Muslims to do jihad to establish supremacy of Islam. According to them, all non-Muslims are enemies. Muslims who do not subscribe Wahabi doctrine are dubbed apostates or deviants. There is an on-going struggle within the Muslim societies between the extreme traditionalists and the moderates, which goes beyond Palestine, Iraq, or Afghanistan.

The moderate-extremist divide among the Muslims in South Asia in the 19th century resulted in the establishment of two educational institutions -- Aligarh Muslim University and Daar ul Ulum Madrassa in Deobandh, both in northern India. While Aligarh represented a synthesis of western and Islamic ideology, Deobandh was inspired by the Wahabi movement. Most of the madrassas in South Asia are run on Deobandi curriculum which used to be peaceful and apolitical. During the anti-Soviet War in Afghanistan many Pakistani madrassas went into the hands of the jihadis, at the behest of their American and Pakistani sponsors at the time. Much of the Taliban leadership was trained in Pakistani madrassas and so were the recent British bombers. With abundant finance pouring in from the ME, the numbers of madrassas and their students continue to soar throughout the world. The jihadis are not only fighting the non-Muslims, they are fighting among themselves too. Brutal Shia-Sunni ethnic clashes in Pakistan have been taking toll for many years. Now in Iraq most of the suicide bombers are Sunnis aiming to inflict maximum casualties on the Shias.

It is often difficult for ordinary people to comprehend what could motivate so many young people to die. The bombers are generally from disadvantaged segments of society. Poor parents with large numbers of children are often pressured to sacrifice one of their wards in the way of Allah. Did you ever hear any of the Mufti's or Ayatullah's sons dying in a suicide bombing? Suicide bombers are brainwashed to such religious frenzy that they can bomb a mosque full of worshippers or a school full of children. To them this is an escape from extreme hopelessness and boredom and a sure way to enter the eternal bliss of heaven. In an exclusive interview published in Time magazine only a few weeks back, an Iraqi suicide volunteer, waiting for his turn, stated that his target would be the American soldiers, but if innocent civilians get caught he wouldn't be sorry because they too would instantly go to heaven. Such is the logic!

One positive fallout of the London bombing has been the public admission of the British Muslims that the extremist cells exist and that the community must join together to combat the extremist ideology. The mere repetition that the extremists do not represent true Islam will not do; the extremists will have to be confronted militarily, socially, and politically. What lessons do we have to learn from the London bombing? I believe quite a few.

First of all, we need to depoliticise Islam and reinforce the secular values in our public life. The mosques should be a place for prayer, meditation, and contemplation, and not a sanctuary of religious extremists. Democratic institutions that are gradually taking roots in the Islamic world should be carefully nurtured. Despotic rulers using religion as a vehicle to further their grip on power should be removed and here the world community could play a very positive role. Educational reform in much of the Muslim world is long overdue. There is a need to spread modern secular education in the community. As fallout of the terrorist activities, Muslim immigration to Europe or America might be curtailed. Muslim students might find admission to top schools of the West and in high-tech subjects increasingly difficult. As a part of the national security measures, Muslims might be denied access to high-end technology by the West. The technology divide between the Islamic states and the rest of the world might continue to widen. Can we allow that to happen? What future are we preparing for our next generation?

At home, we need to have a hard look at the religious education curricula.

Aim of education is to produce citizen with high moral and ethical standard. We need to contemplate, "Why, despite the overdose of religious education, corruption is endemic in much of the Islamic world?" Why our ethical standard is so poor? We are too much obsessed with our religious identity forgetting that we belong to a much wider world where there are other religions, cultures, and nationalities, each with its own varieties and richness. Let us enjoy the rich diversity of human civilisation that God in his infinite wisdom has bestowed on us. Let us hope that beyond the dark clouds of anxiety and doubt there is new hope and vision.

The author is Registrar, The University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka.